Why structured user management matters
SA
Sam Alvarez · Sales Operations
"I just hired three new reps and promoted one to team lead. I need their access sorted before their first call this afternoon — not after a week of back-and-forth IT tickets."
Getting access wrong in either direction is costly: too little access and new hires are blocked from doing their job; too much and sensitive data is exposed to people who shouldn't see it.
Business outcome
New hires are productive from their first login, with access that always matches their role — no over-provisioning, no waiting on IT.Anatomy of a user account
Every user is built from three ingredients that work together — not one all-or-nothing setting:
| Ingredient | Controls |
|---|---|
Role — ADMIN / MANAGER / SALES_USER | ADMIN bypasses all profile-based checks entirely; the other roles are governed by their Profile |
| Manager (for Sales Users) | Builds the reporting chain used by role-hierarchy sharing — a manager automatically sees their reports' records |
| Profile | Governs exactly which objects, fields, apps, and tabs the user can see or edit (covered in depth in the Profiles & Permissions trail) |
One immutable detail
A user's username is locked at creation — it cannot be changed afterward. Email, name, role, manager, and profile can all be edited any time.Deleting a user does not delete the records they created — that history remains intact, with the original username preserved as the "created by" value even after the account is gone.
Onboard a new Sales User
Open User ManagementSetup → Users → New User.
Fill in the basicsFirst/last name, email, username, and a temporary password.
Set the roleChoose SALES_USER — this reveals the Manager field.
Assign a manager and profilePick their reporting manager, then attach the appropriate Profile (e.g. "Standard Sales User").
Save and verifyLog in as the new user (or ask them to) and confirm they land with exactly the tabs and data their profile grants — nothing more.
Try "My Team"
Log in as the manager you just assigned and check the "My Team" view — it should show the new hire as a direct report.Test what you learned
1. Which field is shown only when a user's role is set to SALES_USER?
Profile
Manager
Email
2. What happens to records a user created after their account is deleted?
They are automatically deleted too
They are reassigned to the Admin automatically
They remain, with the original username preserved as an orphaned "created by" value